Pal case: SC intervention brings hope to aggrieved

State Government's refusal to order CBI probe into BSP MLA Raju Pal's murder seems to be becoming a proverbial bone in its throat which it can neither swallow nor eject.

State Government's refusal to order CBI probe into BSP MLA Raju Pal's murder seems to be becoming a proverbial bone in its throat which it can neither swallow nor eject.

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The Supreme Court order directing the lower court in this city to suspend all proceedings in this murder case and send all papers relating to it, is being interpreted on the lines of Best Bakery case in which a lower Gujarat court had acquitted all the accused but the SC ordered a retrial outside the State and which ultimately not only led to the conviction of most of the accused but also the key witness Zahira Sheikh cooling her heels in the Mumbai Jail for backtracking on her statement in the court.

The trial in Raju Pal murder case in a lower court had been heading more or less on the pattern of Best Bakery case after one witness after the other turned hostile, feel many.

Also, a general feeling had overtaken that given the manner in which things were shaping all the accused would ultimately manage to get themselves acquitted.

How powerful are the accused can be gauged from the fact that an Income-Tax Commissioner is reported to have written to the Central Government a few years ago that officials and employees of his department were not ready to carry out investigation of the assets of the accused out of fear.

When IT officials shudder at the very name of the accused how could the witnesses muster courage to speak against the accused is what is being felt by many who had been watching the biased role of the police and the investigating agencies ever since the murder took place.

Now with the SC stepping in, hopes of many of the widows/orphans and parents, whose near and dear ones had been allegedly murdered by the same accused in other incidents have been rekindled.

Even though, they still know that no justice would come in their own cases however they will atleast have some relief if the accused in Raju Pal murder case are put on retrial and convicted.

For them retrial of Raju Pal murder case outside the State and conviction of the accused is not all that important but what is important is the fact that they will have a feeling of getting vicarious justice.

Many who are not witness in the Pal murder case but know the reality are agape after seeing some of the most important witnesses like Rukhsana (who too was injured in the shoot-out) turning hostile even after openly uttering before the print and electronic media the names of the alleged killers.

However, Rukhsana recently accepted that she had turned hostile because of fear of being eliminated in case she spoke the truth.

But she still reportedly says that she can think of speaking the truth if she is convinced that she will be given protection and security of her life in case she does so.

A relative of Raju Pal, Umesh Pal who too became hostile is reported to have said that the dubious role of many senior police officers posted in this city and Lucknow would be exposed in case retrial in this case is ordered outside the State, protection extended to the witnesses and a CBI inquiry is ordered.

If sources are correct even an intelligence agency in its report to the State Government during the trial in the Pal murder case in the lower court recently accepted that the witnesses in the case were intimidated and threats of dire consequences were issued to them by the armed men who had stormed the court premises. Even the cops sided with the goons, the report said.